Jul 8, 2004 - 12:00 am .- A supervisory committee of eight cardinals headed by Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani announced yesterday that the Vatican budget is in the red for the third consecutive year, despite the raise in offerings. Sebastiani explained that there was a loss both for the Holy See and the Vatican State, which has its own employees and sources of income.

Jul 8, 2004 - 12:00 am .- The United States Congress should not authorize the use of federal funds to support embryonic stem-cell research, says William Cardinal Keeler in a letter to the members of the Congress Appropriations Committee, issued yesterday.

Jul 8, 2004 - 12:00 am .- Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom called yesterday upon African Union leaders currently meeting in Addis Ababa to press the government of Eritrea, in the horn of Africa, to free three prominent pastors and two popular Christian singers arrested as part of a two-year government crackdown against evangelical Christians. All detainees are Eritrean.

Jul 8, 2004 - 12:00 am .- In an historical move, the ex-president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega (1979-90), who lead the Sandinista movement, has asked forgiveness for the abuses the Sandinista revolution committed against the bishops of the Catholic Church.

Jul 8, 2004 - 12:00 am .- The former president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, has sent a letter to the promoters of the Varela Project—which is collecting signatures for a referendum on political changes in Cuba—stating the dissident movement proves the Cuban government deceives its people.